MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.
A.D. 1818
Parliament was opened on the 27th of January by commission. The principal topics of the speech were the continued indisposition of his majesty; the death of the Princess Charlotte; an assurance of the continued friendly disposition of foreign powers; the improved state of industry and public credit; the restored tranquillity of the country; the treaties with Spain and Portugal on the abolition of the slave-trade; and a recommendation that additional churches should be built, “to meet the increased population of the country, and to promote the religious and moral habits of the people.” In the lords the address was voted nem. con.; in the commons it met with animadversion from Lord Althorp and Sir Samuel Romilly, who deprecated the demoralizing system of espionnage, as well as the arbitrary imprisonment and tyrannical persecutions which had lately been carried on by government; but the address passed without a division.